Arkansas Bengal Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Preseason power rankings: No. 11 Cincinnati Bengals By Chuck Mills on Aug 21 2014, 10:00a Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports The Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC North during a down year for the Ravens and Steelers. I don't expect them to repeat. 2013 Record: 11-5 Notable Losses:James Harrison, Andrew Hawkins, Chris Cook, Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins Notable Gains: Danieal Manning, Marshall Newhouse, Jason Campbell Draft Class: Darqueze Dennard, Jeremy Hill, Will Clarke, Russell Bodine, A.J. McCarron, Marquis Flowers, James Wright, Lavelle Westbrooks The Facts: The Bengals are a very talented team. They had the fifth best defense in the NFL, a statistic that I don't expect to change drastically as they'll be featuring Vontaze Burfict and Geno Atkins, among others. They have a talented running back stable with Gio Bernard, Cedric Peerman ,Jeremy Hill, James Wilder Jr. and BenJarvus Green-Ellis — so much so that Green-Ellis may be out of a roster spot. They have an offensive line that was very good at keeping Andy Dalton upright and a very talented receiving corps featuring A.J. Green, one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. They also have Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Dane Sanzenbacher, Cobi Hamilton and James Wright, who aren't bad supplementary options, and a decent tight end tandem in Tyler Eifert and Jermaine Gresham. But for all that talent that had the Bengals upstaging high-end opponents like the Packers, Patriots, Ravens, Colts and Steelers, and that won them the AFC North, they have their issues. Namely Dalton did not perform well against divisional opponents, as he threw for 1,361 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in divisional play. That's 226 yards, one touchdown and one Interception per game. If his divisional opponents were able to do better offensively those wins would've been losses. Also as I said earlier the Bengals won a down AFC North. The Ravens, Steelers and Browns combined to go 18-30. The Bengals shouldn't have such an easy time winning a division now that both (or at least one) of those opponents improved this offseason. Part of the reason I have the Bengals down here is just the fact that going 8-0 at home is an incredible feat and that it's unlikely to be replicated, another part is due to the fact that they now have to play a first place schedule. Mix that all together and the Bengals should experience a regression,however they are still talented enough to win in the playoffs if Andy Dalton ever gets his act together. Predicted Record: 10-6. Wins against Browns (x2), Ravens, Steelers, Buccaneers, Titans, Panthers, Falcons, Jaguars and Texans If you disagree with my assessment and ranking remember: Unless it's something crazy,your guess is as good as mine. http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2014/8/21/6050175/power-rankings-no-11-cincinnati-bengals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Who is Chris Cook? And didn't we have the third best defense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|schotzee| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Must mean kyle cook. Lmao! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Who is Chris Cook? And didn't we have the third best defense? 3rd by yards, 5th by points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 He hasnt gotten to them yet but if you look at his past rankings youll see he has both Bmore and Pburgh ahead of us LOL freaking homer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Lucid| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 3rd by yards, 5th by points. Never agreed with the points ranking. The defense gets stuck with pick 6's, kick returns for TD's and redzone turnovers. Total yards given up is more indicative of how well they performed at stopping opposing offenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrandom42 Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Never agreed with the points ranking. The defense gets stuck with pick 6's, kick returns for TD's and redzone turnovers. Total yards given up is more indicative of how well they performed at stopping opposing Po Points allowed are the only thing that matters. I couldn't care less if the Bengals defense gives up an average of 650 yards a game to an opponent, if they average allowing only 10 points per game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Well, when some talking head says "The NFL's third best defense" the metric is pretty much universally in Yards. If you are talking points, they usually say "fifth best scoring defense" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Lucid| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Points allowed are the only thing that matters. I couldn't care less if the Bengals defense gives up an average of 650 yards a game to an opponent, if they average allowing only 10 points per game I would agree with you if you take out pick 6's and kick returns for score.. The defense isn't even on the field for those plays. Also, when the offense turns the ball over in their own red zone and the defense holds them to a field goal, that is a win for the unit, but they get saddled with the 3 points anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 I would agree with you if you take out pick 6's and kick returns for score.. The defense isn't even on the field for those plays. Also, when the offense turns the ball over in their own red zone and the defense holds them to a field goal, that is a win for the unit, but they get saddled with the 3 points anyway. They have this "game score" metric I've seen where there is an expected points from any spot on the field, and time to play. It would be interesting to look at the difference between that score at the start of drives (offense and defense) and the real scoring to measure the value of a unit. So if the defense takes the field at a spot where the expectation is the O should score 5 points, and they hold them to a FG, that's a two point win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Lucid| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 They have this "game score" metric I've seen where there is an expected points from any spot on the field, and time to play. It would be interesting to look at the difference between that score at the start of drives (offense and defense) and the real scoring to measure the value of a unit. So if the defense takes the field at a spot where the expectation is the O should score 5 points, and they hold them to a FG, that's a two point win. Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|High School Harry| Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Must mean kyle cook. Lmao! Or Chris Crocker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcat Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 If you go to Pro-Football Reference and look up the play by play of the games, the expected points by the offense before a play are in the EPB column and after a play is EBA. So you could calculate them for every series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Chris Cook lol MMM K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 Kyle Cook was a decent center. Chris Cook was god awful. They both wore 64. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tigre Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 Who is Chuck Mills...and why should anyone care what his power ranking claims? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 Never agreed with the points ranking. The defense gets stuck with pick 6's, kick returns for TD's and redzone turnovers. Total yards given up is more indicative of how well they performed at stopping opposing offenses. I think their needs to be some sort of "Sabermetric" for points allowed by the defense that would take out pick-6, K/P returns for TDs, and "partial credit" for being put in bad field position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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